Shade mounting brackets of various types are well known in the art. Such apparatus are used for holding a window shade in the desired position to cover a window. These devices are commonly used in a residential or commercial setting. Window shade mounting brackets are generally sold in pairs, each individual bracket in a pair is usually different from the other bracket of the pair, to some extent at least, since one bracket is designed to receive only the flattened spear end which projects from one end of a window shade roller, and the other bracket is designed to receive only the round pin end which projects from the other end of the window shade roller. When the pin end and the spear end are inserted into their corresponding brackets, the window shade is supported by the pair of brackets. Thus, typically each bracket is dissimilar in construction to the other bracket of the pair.
Depending on the desired mounting position of the bracket on or around the window frame, additional hardware or different bracket configurations may be necessary. As a result, most bracket manufacturers must manufacture several different types of brackets. This generally substantially increases manufacturing costs such as tooling, increases inventory volume, and creates potential manufacturing and packaging difficulties. For example, if several separate manufacturing lines are operating, one for each different bracket configuration, and one line is shut down due to mechanical failure, production eventually stops even though the other lines are in good working order. Additionally, extra care must be taken to ensure that one, and only one, bracket of each design is eventually packaged, and this can increase costs due to the need for special packaging machinery and/or higher inspection standards. Accordingly, the more different bracket designs that need to be supplied, the more likely these problems will occur.
The conventional dissimilar-shaped brackets also often pose a problem for the homeowner who wishes to install a pair of brackets. Additional care must be taken, when mounting a set of brackets, to make sure that the bracket design supplied with the shade will provide the desired mounting position, since brackets are not universal. For example, some designs of mounting brackets are capable of being mounted only to a vertical surface, such as a wall or vertical casement surface, while another, quite dissimilar type of bracket must be separately purchased for ceiling or overhead mounting.
The prior art has attempted to provide universal mounting brackets; however, they have some inherent disadvantages. One of the disadvantages is that the brackets are designed so as to require an open-ended slot for the spear end to be properly inserted into the bracket. An open-ended slot is undesirable because the flat spear end of the shade roller assembly is more likely to fall out of the bracket when someone either pulls the shade down or rolls the shade up. This causes a potentially dangerous situation, because the shade assembly can fall out of the bracket and injure the user.
Included in the prior art are brackets that employ an additional part at the interface of the shade roller and the bracket which can be installed in several different ways to provide the required orientation of the engagement feature while maintaining the alignment of the bracket and roller. An additional piece of hardware is disadvantageous because of both additional manufacturing costs and additional difficulty in handling and installation.
The present invention overcomes these and other problems inherent in existing shade mounting brackets. The present invention provides a pair of universal shade mounting brackets for several types of window shades, which eliminates the manufacture and stocking by distributors and stores of a large number of presently used different bracket configurations. A feature of the pair of brackets is that the brackets may be mounted on the inside of the window frame either at the top of the frame or on the sides of the frame, on the wall outside the frame, or on the ceiling. This universality is distinguished from the common slotted bracket which must be maintained with the slot in an upward orientation, so that the rectangular- or square-shaped spear end of the shade roller does not fall out of the slot in the bracket.